Healthcare Informatics, Graduate Certificate

Introduction

Healthcare informatics is defined as the understanding and promoting the effective organization, analysis, management and use of information in healthcare. According to the American Medical Informatics Association, this field uses technology as an integral tool to help organize and manage healthcare information. Tools and techniques from a number of disciplines are brought together to help in this management process. Disciplines contributing to healthcare informatics include such disciplines as computer and information science, statistics, health sciences, health management, and engineering.

Historically, healthcare informatics has been identified with the computerization efforts in healthcare delivery. Examples of information management in heathcare include Electronic Medical Record (EMR), the measurement of quality of care and the study of patient-perceived health outcomes. While it is difficult to enumerate all of the possible uses of informatics in healthcare, they include the use of computers in many decision making situations including those required during clinical trials for new drugs, the design of an experimental research, or the evaluation of a healthcare program.

A student of this certificate program will develop expertise to integrate computing and information science with biomedical information and knowledge, thereby addressing the interface between healthcare information and computing. They can identify/design research designs for healthcare outcomes, apply various statistical methods and describe strengths and weaknesses of various quantitative and qualitative methods.

Admission Information

This certificate program complements the knowledge-base of a degree seeking graduate student already enrolled in a program such as Computer Science, Health Science, Healthcare Management, and Social Science, including Psychology and other related areas. Alternatively, the applicant must meet the graduate certificate admission requirements as detailed in the Graduate Certificate and Licensure Admissions section of the graduate catalog.

Career Opportunities

A professional with healthcare informatics certificate can find career opportunities in more than 350 identified biotechnology companies in Ohio. In addition, this expertise is in demand in hospital and healthcare institutions. Nationally, available opportunities are much larger.

Program Highlights

At least 18 credit hours from courses listed below are required for the completion of the certificate. Based on the student’s background, a minimum of two courses from each of the listed areas must be chosen. However, this restriction can be relaxed based on the student’s background and the concurrence of the program advisory group. Consult the CIS department for the procedure.